The Valley Adams Regional Housing Authority took a new direction last week by considering forming joint ventures with local governments to provide sites for community housing.
The VARHA board of trustees directed Executive Director Michael David to secure a legal opinion on whether counties, cities, and hospital and school districts were able to transfer property to the housing authority.
David urged VARHA to find means to become self-supporting so that it would not have to seek yearly contributions from its members. Board members agreed they should be able to show they had been productive when the fiscal year ends each September.
David plans to meet with Valley County commissioners early next year after obtaining the legal opinion.
The housing authority has lost one possible funding source, which are city and county fees that have been tied up because of pending or threatened lawsuits.
The Mountain Central Board of Realtors has filed a lawsuit against the city of McCall for its new inclusionary zoning ordinances and associated fees.
Under Idaho law, housing authorities have the power to issue bonds, but Trustee Steve Millemann, who represents Valley County, thought that method was out of the question.
"That's an ambitious place for us to think about going, and I'm not sure we have to go there to do a project," Millemann said.
"I don't want to say that that's not a place to go, but we'd spend a lot of time and resources on a bond issue," he said.
The board decided to spend money from its 2006-07 budget to pay fees to obtain the legal opinion. Board members also directed David to inquire about splitting legal costs with Blaine County, which could benefit from the findings.
A number of questions were posed regarding land acquisition. Chairman Greg Lovell asked if the county could transfer land without a public sale. VARHA would need control of land to let a developer build housing, Lovell said.
VARHA also might want to consider incorporating, he said. Millemann said it was important to engage the agencies participating in the housing authority on their willingness to provide land.
"I'd like to see us have a serious conversation with all the participants on do they have property and are they prepared to commit it to a project," Millemann said. Land is a "key piece" for getting
housing built, he said.
The housing authority would have to determine what income levels to target for the new housing, board members said.
Millemann said he wanted to target lower incomes, and that housing would not have to be all sale units, but also rentals.
Millemann said he was "convinced" the need for rentals is greater.
VARHA also laid plans to confer with the Idaho Department of Lands whether using the agency's land might be possible. Board members agreed questions of jurisdiction needed to be studied.
Murray Dalgleish, the representative for Adams County, wondered how the school districts would respond to community housing.
McCall-Donnelly is subsidizing new teachers' housing for up to three years, but that cannot go on indefinitely, Dalgleish said.
